Opening Weekend...
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Day 4
The day I've been waiting for so long has finally come, August 20th, 2011! The alarm went off at 2am and my hunting season has officially begun! I immediately jumped out of bed, got dressed, stretched, took my energy shot, grabbed my pack and ran out the door. I was absolutely sick to my stomach knowing Trace had disappeared, but I had a good positive attitude that if I spent my time and paid my dues, I would be rewarded. Andy was going to glass for me this morning from below to try and help me. Below is a list of everything I had to pack in that morning for my hunt over the weekend.
My two day pack included:
-Gregory Whitney 95 Pack
-Badlands Reactor Pack
-Water Bladder w/100oz.
-Food and snacks
-Trekking Poles
-Sleeping Bag
-Hammock
-Compressed Pillow
-Max-1 Rain Jacket and Pants
-Max-1 Long sleeve shirt, Pants, Hat, and Gloves
-Iphone
-Phone battery charger
-Radio
-Bow
-5 arrows
-Release
-Rangefinder
-Binoculars
-Spotting Scope
-Compact Tripod
-Digital Camera w/extra batteries and memory cards
-Digiscope Adapter
-Knife
-Saw
-Survival essentials
-Nylon webbing
-Scentless Spray, Soap, and Wipes
-Other misc. things
My super lightweight pack for two days?I wish, not?ugh 50lbs?
I drove like lightning and arrived at the trail, strapped on my pack and got to work. This was only my 4th hike of the season and definitely the heaviest pack I've had so far. But with extraordinary levels of energy, I hiked into my hunting area in good time and plenty to spare. And now for the worst part of the morning, it was time to take a shower and get scent free. Not a soothing warm shower, but a bone chilling cold water shower! If you haven't showered in the wilderness on a windy ridge with cold water, I would definitely recommend not doing so. It is an experience that even now thinking about it gives me the chills.
After washing all the sweat off, I pulled my scentless clothes out of my pack and began dressing in all my hunting attire. Andy and I had been talking over txt the whole time and both were about ready. I then moved my big stinky pack off into the timber and was ready to hunt as soon as the sun came up. At first light, I saw a couple decent bucks but no sign of Trace. Andy also found a few other bucks and kept an eye open as moved around.
Possible shooter in the next couple years?
I knew I had a very short amount of time to locate bucks before they bedded down. So I continued glassing and moving around to different vantage points to see what all was out and about. As I looked over into the area where my big pack was, not expecting there to be anything there, I saw a couple bucks. As I raised my binoculars up to see what they were, I thought I found Trace! But then the buck turned his head away from me and I was mistaken. This buck was a narrow 4x5 with good tine length, but a definite shooter! I made a plan of attack and slipped around and waited above them. I figured they would be moving into the timber to bed and I hoped my big pack?s stink wouldn't spook them. Well as my luck was still low, the bucks winded my big pack and left the country. I watched them run around the basin and they stopped a couple times to look back in confusion. I knew they weren't spooked very bad and moved into the timber to bed.
I spent the rest of the morning glassing really hard, found a three more small bucks, but nothing interesting appeared after the 4x5 encounter. I never thought those bucks would use the patch of timber I put my big pack in, that's why I put it there! But guess again, and now I know. My first chance at a shooter buck was blown and I headed back to camp for lunch. Andy had to call it a day because he needed to be to work at 1pm, so he hiked down and I was all on my own. Well after relaxing for a couple hours it was time to go out for the evening. Unfortunately it was slow and didn't produce anything, like usual. I hiked back to camp and went to sleep feeling pretty uneasy about my chances tomorrow.
Unique 2x1 that was injured, but still hanging out with these other two small bucks?
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Day 5
Waking up the second day of season was really tough. I didn't sleep very well and on top of that I was still exhausted and very sore from the hike in the day prior. But I got up and began my routine to be scentless again. Standing there shivering in the cold, I knew it would be worth all my hard work and minor pain. All I needed to do is get lucky, I can control most everything else. A lesson I have learned the hard way is that if something wasn?t hard, it wasn?t worth doing. And if something is hard, it wasn?t worth doing because the reward isn't going to be that great. I've realized my trophy is much different than most hunters. It requires a whole different level of dedication that most others wouldn't do. But enough of the mind games, time to eat some breakfast and get to hunting!
This morning I wasn?t going to have a spotter and the odds were already stacked against me. I made my way to the ridge and as I peaked over into the first basin, nothing. I kept glassing and turned up the usual variety of small bucks. I was about ready to call it a morning, then I decided to do another round of glassing and I'm sure glad I did. The third valley I peaked into had the 4x5 and a small 2-pt standing in it and feeding about! I couldn't believe it, I had spooked this buck the day before and he is back! Not in the same exact area, but in the general surrounding area. I evaluated the situation and decided to sit back and take some video of him for a bit and see where they bed down at. Well as luck would have it, they moved off into the deep brush and I didn't see any possible chance of making a stalk. Knowing this buck was already pretty spooked, I knew it was the best idea to not push him and slip out of there.
Definite shooter!...
This young 2-pt loved this buck, must be his older brother?
Scratching his back?
Watch the video!... (click the image below)
[IMGhttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/bugleboy/HAC%202011/hac-11-282.jpg][/IMG]
Now back at camp, I figured I could stick it out and hunt the evening, or pack up camp now and head out mid day. From my past experience I knew the evening hunt wouldn't be good, so I packed up everything and started my hike down the mountain. Once I got back to my car, I was exhausted and ready for a real shower!
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Day 6
After not seeing Trace the first couple days of the season, I was a bit disappointed so I decided to change things up and check out my Plan A area. This would be the first time I've been into this unique area and I had high hopes that a big buck was waiting for me. I planned on only staying for one whole day and hunting the morning and evening. As I started up the trail with my 40lb pack I quickly remembered how much more difficult this hike was compared to the others. The incline was an absolute killer and the distance was even longer by about. It took me a good 30 minutes longer than I expected and I was once again exhausted by the time I hit my camp spot.
Because I was running late, I took a quick cold shower and got ready to hunt as fast as I could. The sun was already rising and I was losing time now. All suited up and ready to go, I skipped a few basins and went to the basin I've always seen the most deer in. As the sun rose higher I was greatly rewarded by my decision to check this basin out first because I was seeing deer immediately. 20+ bucks in fact, all in the first couple hours all feeding around. Including a definite shooter buck that was a real nice 4x5 with a cool 5? cheater off his left side. The other bucks were a couple decent 4-pts, few 3-pts, and rest smaller bucks. I had now found a total of three shooter bucks in all my areas and things were looking promising.
Couple decent bucks feeding along the way to their beds?
Yet another 4x5?
This big buck was also with a giant 2-pt bedded right out in the open sagebrush. I knew they wouldn't stay out in the open for very long, so I made a plan of attack. I figured they would be moving to timber soon, but which timber. There was two possibilities, one was a small patch of timber around the hillside and the other was deep timber below them a ways down. I decided that I would make my way down to a small cliff in between them and the timber around the hillside. Well I was almost to my cliff when I looked downhill and noticed they were slipping out down the bottom of the draw towards the timber. I had the wind in my favor the entire stalk and knew I didn't spook them. Although I knew they had two bedding area options, and they took the one I wasn?t able to get to. Another missed opportunity, but it's alright because it was nice seeing a new big buck that I would most definitely shoot if the opportunity presents itself.
Last photo I took before my stalk?
The sun was now pretty high and most all the bucks had found their beds for the day. I was tempted to make a stalk on that decent 4x4 as he was in a really good spot to get close to. But then I sat there and thought about the other three bigger bucks and decided to let him live for another year or two. Hiking back to camp, I found a lonely satellite bull elk lying down in the grass in the bowl below me. I thought that was pretty cool because I rarely see elk up here. I watched him for a bit and continued on back to camp, pulled out my lunch, strung my hammock, jumped in, and kicked back.
A cool new product I picked up this year was the Goal Zero Guide 10 Rechargeable Battery Pack. This little unit allowed me to recharge my iphone no matter where I was at. It was sure a life saver because I use my phone a lot for various things while hunting. Everything from checking the current weather, viewing maps on Google Earth, and texting.
Thank you Goal Zero for making an ideal power source in the backcountry!...
That evening had me back in the same spot in search for that big 4x5 again. I sat there for a couple hours glassing and waiting, knowing he could step out at any minute. Well I grew a bit impatient and decided to check out another basin and return later. Without even using my binoculars, I thought I could see a couple deer in the meadow at the bottom of the basin. But as I looked closer, I saw they were elk! More elk? I seriously never see elk in this neck of the woods! Seeing these bulls was very tempting as they would be an easy target lying out in the open, but I opted to stay back and spend my time on that 4x5 buck. The only reason I did this was because I knew I would get my chances later in the season on some big bulls, so I wasn?t too worried about it. One of the bulls even had full velvet still on and looked great.
If only I was hunting elk?
After watching the bulls for a while, I hiked back to the area I really wanted to watch. As if I wasn?t already second guessing my decisions already, the decent 4x4 from the morning showed back up, alone, and not with his bachelor group. He fed there a couple hundred yards away, taunting me to chase him. No! I want his older brother, the 4x5! The evening was coming to an end and he was the only buck to show up. Oh well, I felt like I had a pretty successful day overall.
Another up and coming shooter buck. The tempting decent 4x4?
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Day 7
The fourth day of my season I was headed back up into my Plan A area in search of the big 4x5. I had plenty of ambition for this area that was producing well and decided to make a two day trip this time. Just like opening day, I had another 50lb pack on but this hike was much more difficult. I didn't want a repeat of last time, so I planned accordingly and gave myself plenty of time. I knew the pack weight was going to slow me down a bit, but what I didn't account for was equipment problems.
The first couple steps up the trail and I knew I had serious problems. My hydration bladder was leaking out of the main valve. I tried multiple things to get it to stop leaking and I was losing time so I pressed on. By the time I had got to my half way spot, it was still leaking and I was getting mad. I ended up having to completely tie the hose in a knot as tight as I could. Every time I wanted a drink, I would have to untie it with my teeth and waste more time. I struggled with it the whole way up the trail and by the time I reached camp, I was once again late.
As soon as I sat my pack down, I was concerned with how much water I had lost. I pulled my bladder out and was shocked that I had lost almost half of my water supply. This was not a good start to a two day trip, and I now had to conserve my water, which meant not exerting much energy. I made the best of what I had and used as little water as I could to shower and become scentless. I was now ready to hunt and headed over to the basin I last saw the big 4x5. I glassed all morning again, but was only able to turn up a good 4x4 with big eye guards bedded down in the timber.
This buck had some impressive eye guards?
I decided not to put a stalk on this buck because of a couple factors. For one he was facing uphill, two the wind was blowing the wrong direction, three I was low on water, and fourth he was in a mid day bed and would most likely move shortly. I'm glad I made the decision to sit back and watch what happens because within 20 minutes, he got up and moved down into the deep dark timber. Not seeing much after that, I returned back to camp and had lunch.
Love the equipment that never fails me?
All rested up, but still worrying about my water I got to my glassing spot a bit early and began glassing. I sat there for a while, but didn't see much because it was early and the sun was still high. I decided to move around a bit to glass in different directions. I'm glad I did because there in a new place I haven't seen any deer before was standing the big 4x5. It looks as if he had bedded in a clump of pine trees and stayed there all day. I can't believe I didn't see him earlier in the morning because I had looked over those trees. Either I had missed him lying there, or he had moved within the last couple hours to there.
The big 4x5?
Light was fading fast and I was forced to sit back and watch this buck feed below me. I could have rushed down there and tried for a stalk, but he was out in the wide open and I knew I had little chance at him tonight. If he would just stay in that area and be there in the morning I had a perfect stalk setup.
My favorite photo I took?
Watch the video!... (click the image below)
[IMGhttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v132/bugleboy/HAC%202011/hac-11-262.jpg][/IMG]
After running 3 batteries dead and 1 full memory card on my camera, I left the big 4x5 feeding just before it was too dark to see. I made it back to camp and realized I needed to deal with my water situation.
Like I talked about earlier, I was running very low on water from a leaking camelbak bladder. Because I had little water by the time I hit the top, it limited the amount of energy I could exert on hunting. It was quite frustrating hiking all the way back up in there and not being able to hunt like I wanted to. So I had to make a decision on what I was going to do about this water issue. I could either cut my trip short and pack out with a couple gulps of water, or take the chance at finding water up there. Well I remembered there was a glacier just over the ridge and decided to check it out before making a decision.
I usually never bring any water filtration device or chemicals with me in my pack to save weight, because I can usually carry enough water to last the whole trip. But when hunting in a remote area, the unexpected can and will happen. So I made my way over to the glacier to check it out and see if it was a possibility. The glacier was in the rocks and it looked really clean to me where the water was coming out. Being extremely thirsty and the thought of another day chasing that big 4x5 weighed heavily on my mind. I took the risk and decided to drink some of the water in the fast moving part of the stream. I knew drinking unfiltered water was dangerous anywhere, but I figured this water would be the cleanest I would find.
Glacier stream that saved my life?I mean hydration?
I filled up my water bladder and empty Gatorade bottle from the glacier runoff stream and headed back to camp. This water tasted amazing, but I knew I should limit my consumption to prevent getting any sickness. I made the trek back to camp and finished eating dinner. It was quite lonely up there when the sun went down and I wasn?t active. My mind began to wander and fear set in as it usually does and the battle began. I knew I had to distract my mind of lonely feeling and concentrate on the little things I could do right now. Those being getting ready for bed by hanging my hammock, unrolling my sleeping bag, fluffing my pillow, listening to music, and texting friends. My phone was my savior and was thankful I could zone out on it. I fell asleep rather fast being extremely exhausted, but my mind didn't let me sleep much through the night. The bugs also didn't help, but I covered myself pretty well and curled up in my sleeping bag.
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Day 8
The next morning I woke up with bug bites all over my right leg. I had no clue how this happened because I knew I was covered. Until it dawned on me that I had unintentionally stuck out my leg during the middle of the night while asleep to stretch. I remembered doing this, but fell back asleep and didn't pull it back in. Oh well, I then began my morning routine again and got ready to hunt. As the morning went on and the sun grew higher, I was finally able to relocate the 4x5 already bedded down in a patch of pine trees. My original plan of attack was now ruined, because he is now in a much more difficult area. Also this time, he wasn?t alone and today he had met back up with his big 2-pt buddy and a new 3-pt. But I still planned on trying to get close and see what happens.
My first stalk on these bucks got me to within 130 yards, but I ran out of cover in front of me and had to try another route. I sat there wondering what I should do because the wind kept changing uphill to downhill and so forth. I glassed these bucks and saw they were all facing downhill, so an uphill stalk was my only option. I snuck out and around and as I got to within 45 yards of the clump of pines they were bedded in, I pulled up my binoculars. To my surprise they weren't there, they were gone! I'm pretty sure I didn't spook them, but where had they gone? I knew they weren't going to stay in those beds for long, but I figured I had enough time to get in close when they decided to move. But they had once again out smarted me and I returned to the top of the ridge to glass.
Not being able to relocate the group of bucks, I called it a morning and went back to camp. I was absolutely stumped on how I blew that stalk just earlier. The wind was right; they didn't small me, didn't hear me, and didn't see me. It must have been that big bucks sixth sense to move them out of harms way. It's a game of luck, and I knew I would get my chance eventually. I'm the type of hunter who plays it safe and strikes when he has the chance. Like my motto I work by ?Work Smarter, Not Harder?. So I decided to pack out there and give the area some rest. Hopefully those bucks weren't spooked by me, but if they were I was going to give them a few days to settle down.
While I was hiking down, I decided it would be best to go back to my Plan B area in search of Trace next. This was the beauty of having two hunting areas, if one was getting too much pressure go hit the other! And I also didn't have a real good set plan on how to shoot the 4x5 buck, so I wasn?t losing anything.[/font]